India, China still locked in ‘degree of standoff’: Army chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi

“As far as status of standoff (with China) is concerned…we have to see what all has changed since April 2020. Has the terrain been doctored over a period of time? Yes, both sides have doctored the terrain. Have both sides carried out constructions? Yes. Both sides have carried out some stocking, deployment? Yes. Therefore, what it means is that there is a degree of standoff,” General Dwivedi said.

The Army chief stressed that in light of the changed situation since April 2020, “the trust between the two countries has to have a new definition. Therefore, there is a requirement for us to sit together and thereafter come to a broader understanding…how we want to calm down the situation and restore the trust. We are now looking forward to the special representative meeting which should take place and also the WMCC (Working Mechanism for Cooperation and Coordination), and based on the guidance from there we will be moving forward.”

On December 3, Jaishankar told the Parliament that “disengagement has now been achieved in full in Eastern Ladakh through a step-by-step process, culminating in Depsang and Demchok. With the task of disengagement completed, it is now our expectation that discussions would commence in regard to the remaining issues that we had placed on the agenda.”

The Army chief on Monday also said that in the wake of the tensions, there has been a devolution of decision-making powers to resolve minor issues, but refused to put a timeline to the resolution of differences between the two countries.

“The corps commanders have now been delegated the powers to resolve trivial issues and minor frictions so that they do not become big issues later. So, what can be resolved at the lower level is being resolved. As far as timeline is concerned, I can only say India has adequate strategic patience,” he said.

Despite the resolution of some friction points in Depsang Plains and Demchok in Eastern Ladakh, General Dwivedi chose to describe the situation in the region as “stable but sensitive” and indicated things were moving forward gradually through talks.

“There have been series of meetings. The PM has met the Chinese head. Meetings have taken place at the level of corps commander. The 22nd SHMC (Senior Highest Military Commanders meeting) took place on October 21 (2024). On December 5 (2024), we had the WMCC. On December 18 (2024), we had the special representatives meeting,” Dwivedi said.

On the current situation in Depsang and Demchok, he said, “As you are aware that both sides had moved forward and stopped the other side from carrying out patrolling. What has happened in this disengagement is that both sides have agreed to go back to areas where both sides feel ok this is where we used to come for our traditional patrols. That has been agreed upon. Two rounds of verification patrolling have already been completed by both the sides. And both sides are quite satisfied about it. The grazing grounds have also been mutually agreed upon and grazers are being allowed to go.”

Dwivedi insisted there were no “buffer zones” in Eastern Ladakh, rather, “temporary moratoriums” to avoid violence.

“When you carry out negotiations, you look at what can be solved immediately and what will take some time to resolve. Where you see that the degree of violence can be high and the fuse is short, you create some distances. So when we carried out these negotiations over a period of time, some places we declared as temporary moratorium. Because we felt that if we met at those places, the violence level may go high,” he said.

Since the June 2020 violence in Galwan Valley, Indian and Chinese troops have had multiple rounds of talks through which disengagements have been achieved at multiple patrolling points such as the PP 14, PP 15, PP 17A and north and south banks of Pangong Tso in Eastern Ladakh. But at all these points, the two forces have created no-patrolling zones of a few kilometres that have been earlier referred to as “buffer zones”. This situation currently remains unchanged.

In this context, Jaishankar had told Parliament on December 3, “In a few other places where friction occurred in 2020, steps of a temporary and limited nature were worked out, based on local conditions, to obviate the possibility of further friction. This, I must stress, applies to both sides and can be revisited as the situation demands. In that sense, our stance has been resolute and firm and serves our national interest fully.”